


Unbroken

by XaykWolf



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, It's Kinda Implied That The Rest Of The Party Is There But They're Not Referenced Specifically, Possibly Not Canon Compliant Post V6C1, Slight Spoilers For V6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 00:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16459865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XaykWolf/pseuds/XaykWolf
Summary: A group argument about starting the campfire draws out some revelations and begins the very important task of rebuilding bonds between Blake and Yang.





	Unbroken

**Author's Note:**

> I noticed that we haven't seen Yang's aura or semblance basically at all since V3 and had my own interpretation as to what was going on. 
> 
> Just a warning if you didn't see the tag: slight spoilers for V6C1.
> 
> Enjoy!

It was cold. Of course it was cold. Northern Anima consisted of snowy mountains and frosted forests. And of course their train crashed, tossing them all out into it without a means of shelter. If Blake had learned anything by now, it was that nothing ever seemed to go according to plan. So naturally when they all sat down to camp after the day’s trekking, the only wood they could find was much too wet to start by normal means.

“I’m just saying, I don’t wanna waste the dust we have!” Ruby argued. Yang crossed her arms and scowled.

“I’m not some matchstick that you can light on command, Ruby. My semblance doesn’t work like that.”

“Oh, come on sis! Please try?” Ruby had resorted to the whining beg that normally worked like a charm on a protective and devoted Yang.

Yang’s frown deepened, all the light seeming to leave her eyes. “No.”

The rest of the group stared as Yang spun on her heels and stalked out of the clearing. The trees enveloped her in seconds, and Blake’s Faunus ears were the only reason she could hear Yang’s retreat. Ruby visibly deflated next to the useless firewood with a sigh. Weiss put her hand on the small of Ruby’s back and murmured soft encouragement in her ear as Qrow moved to go after Yang.

“Let me,” Blake said, tone making it less of a request and more of a command. Qrow bristled, but the look on Blake’s face stopped his next words in his throat. He grumbled but didn’t stop her as she quietly followed the deep footprints in the snow. It took a minute, but when Blake finally found Yang, she was sitting in a patch of ground mostly swept clear of frost, back facing her. She made her steps loud so as to alert Yang to her approach, and Yang sighed.

“Leave me alone, Qrow. I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Blake halted a few feet away. “Hey,” she responded quietly. Yang started and spun to look at her.

“Oh...Blake…” She didn’t sound incredibly excited. Blake’s ears drooped slightly, but she sat down next to Yang regardless. As much as Yang said they’d be okay, Blake knew she had a lot to make up for. And what better way to start? Not including the awkward mess of helping Yang get her duffel, of course…

They sat in silence. Blake had been on the other side of it one too many times to think prying would help. In that time, though, she had noticed something. Yang’s presence usually warmed her all the way to her bones, almost as if Yang had some sort of celestial fire burning in her core. But right now she could barely feel it. It was the warmth she felt from any other person. Normal. And that normal was not particularly helpful in the midst of a snowy forest.

They had been sitting there for long enough that Blake could feel her body cooling. She tried to suppress a shiver but wasn’t all that successful. Yang must’ve seen it, because she sighed, the first audible noise since her lackluster greeting.

“Look,” Yang muttered. “I’ll be fine. You can go back. You don’t have to stay out here with me, and I’m sure they’ve got the fire going by now.” Blake shook her head.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Why?”

Blake blinked. “What do you mean, ‘why’?” Yang clenched her fists.

“Isn’t it obvious? I can’t help you get warm, and I’m not going back to the group for a while.”

“I don’t care about that, Yang,” Blake replied evenly. “I only care that you’re okay.” She jumped as Yang’s fist smashed into the ground.  
“I’m not. So you may as well leave.” The underlying growl in Yang’s voice probably should’ve scared Blake, but it only worried her.

“No.” Her voice was clipped, no-nonsense. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but you’re still hurting from what happened. Don’t deny it,” she added when Yang opened her mouth to argue. “I’m not blind. You may have been fine during the fight on the train, but you’ve been particularly careful not to use your semblance.” Yang’s eyes widened, then she cast them to the ground, darkening. Blake waited.

“I can’t use it,” Yang breathed, as if saying it quietly would somehow make it untrue. Blake’s ears stiffened. Yang got louder as her voice gained momentum. “I haven’t been able to consistently activate my aura, and I can’t trigger my semblance at all. And trust me, I’ve tried. I’ve tried every day since I first attached this arm. And I can’t! I’m so useless!” Yang ground her teeth, blinking rapidly.

Blake couldn’t stand it any longer. She threw her arms around Yang and pulled her close. Yang tensed initially, but after a long second she began to relax into the embrace.

“You’re not useless, Yang. You’ve never been useless,” Blake whispered into her ear. She shifted her hands to comb tentatively through Yang’s vibrant hair, so different from its owner currently. Yang’s arms snaked around her waist, pulling her in tighter. An idea lit through her, and her hands stilled.

“What is it?” Yang mumbled. Blake hesitated then pulled away slightly.

“I think I know something that might help, but you may not like it.”

“What is it?” Yang’s eyes flicked quickly between Blake’s. “I’ll do it. Anything.”

“I may be able to use my aura to examine yours, see what’s going on with it.” Blake’s ears laid flat. Yang stared at them, confused.

“Sounds good to me. Why wouldn’t I like it?”

“Because,” Blake began then took a deep breath. “It’s a variation on something I learned...from Adam.” Yang flinched. “We were on the road, the White Fang, before Sienna took over. We passed through a town that was...not fond of Faunus. They started shooting at us, and I hadn’t unlocked my aura naturally yet, so I was pretty defenseless. He used his own aura to trigger some sort of reaction in me that freed it. I think I can replicate his method, even if I have a different goal in mind.”

Yang looked away. Her eyes were distant, staring far past the forest, all the way to a burning cafeteria.

“I wanted you to know so you didn’t feel like I’d kept it secret,” Blake said nervously. “It’s okay if you don’t wa-”

“I’ll do it.” Yang’s eyes were on her again, hard but warm. Blake’s heart skipped a beat. “Use what he taught you so that I can make him regret it.” Yang grinned, a wolfish smile with teeth. Blake’s responding smile was quiet.

She stood up, pulling Yang with her by the hands, and touched her forehead to Yang’s. Filling her lungs, she slowly breathed out, sending her aura slowly through the connection of skin. She briefly felt the shaking of Yang’s left hand before her senses took her deep into Yang, finding a pool of golden fire. It branched out sporadically, unevenly, then shrank back in protectively around Yang’s heart. She could feel every inch of Yang’s aura, thinly stretched and pitted in places, decent as a general barrier but useless for generating power. A dark spot, devoid of any aura at all, was Yang’s right shoulder and bicep, as if Yang’s very soul shrank away from it.

Gently, using her own aura as a guide, Blake coaxed a piece of golden fire toward the arm. It slipped from her grasp several times, but she persevered. At last, as she began to sweat, she was able to get a thin coating to stick. Distantly, she felt a squeeze on her hands. Pouring her aura into the source of Yang’s fire, she directed it further, filling in fractures she touched. She nudged the edges softly, slowly, until it spread like honey to glow brightly all around Yang’s form.

A flash of heat brought her back, stumbling back. Yang’s strong arms stopped her from pitching completely onto the ground, and Blake gasped. Yang’s hair was shining, literally, and an otherworldly warmth came from her. Blake glimpsed red eyes as Yang dragged her into a bone-crushing hug. Tears pricked at the corners of Blake’s eyes. She’d had plenty of hugs since leaving Beacon, from Sun, her parents, and even Ilia. But none of them came close to Yang’s. From ear tip to toe, Yang pressed into her as if clinging to a lifeline. Blake grasped back just as tightly, balling soft brown leather in her fists.

As Yang pulled away, Blake’s eyes widened. Everything within a ten-foot distance had been melted, the only traces of snow in the water trickling from branches and glistening on grass.

“Yang,” she whispered, awe dripping from her. Yang smiled, and it reached her eyes, fading into lilac.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Yang’s voice was just as quiet, just as reverent, as Blake’s. Yang reached up to gently stroke Blake’s cheek with a thumb. Blake leaned into it, feeling her heart soar. As her pulse picked up, a fuzziness seeped into her head, and she blinked.

“I don’t feel very amazing,” Blake murmured, swaying slightly. Yang’s eyebrows furrowed. “It’s okay, Yang. I think I just overextended myself. Let’s get back to-” A yawn interrupted her. Humor gleamed in Yang’s eyes, and then Blake was suddenly off the ground, carried bridal style in very warm arms.

“Rest,” Yang commanded kindly. “I’ll wake you for dinner.” Blake pressed further into Yang and tried to mutter a denial. She felt Yang’s chuckle more than she heard it, and as her brain faded into static she felt the faintest brush of lips on her forehead.

-

Dinner was a loud affair. Too loud for Blake’s usual liking.

Ruby and Weiss had apparently sensed the difference immediately upon their return, and it had loosened something wound too tight in all of them. Their meal was relatively spartan, but no one seemed to care with a much more relaxed atmosphere. As they joked and yelled over the campfire, Blake blinked back bittersweet tears. It was exactly like their meals at Beacon. So similar, but everything had changed.

It hadn’t taken long for Yang to notice and graciously bow out of a video game tournament, to the good-natured jeers of Qrow and Ruby, and come to sit by Blake as she picked at her crumbs. They spoke softly, each too afraid to break the tenuous, but real, bond that they’d rebuilt. By the time the fire had burned itself down to embers, Yang had sleepily lain her head on Blake’s shoulder, and Blake had clasped Yang’s hand over her thigh.

Blake volunteered to take first watch, considering she’d already had a nap, and they all packed in for the night. It was quiet, but for the first time in what felt like forever, it was a good quiet. When she’d reluctantly woken Yang for her turn at sentry, Yang had blearily grabbed her hand and kissed the fingertips gently. The burning in Blake’s face took quite a while to calm, and the beating in her chest even longer. Nevertheless, she had eventually settled into her sleeping bag and drifted to a light sleep.

Movement woke her some time later. Blake froze until a familiarly warm arm reached around to rest over her hip.

“Mind if I join you?” Blake hummed her assent. Turning carefully in Yang’s hold, she nuzzled her head up under Yang’s chin. Yang pressed her smiling lips between Blake’s ears.

“You’re sure cuddly tonight.”

Blake only muttered incoherently, relaxing into the embrace. Yang chuckled quietly.

“We’ll talk more tomorrow. Goodnight, Blake.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you already guessed, yes, I did draw inspiration from Pyrrha unlocking Jaune's aura. I just tweaked it a little bit to serve my needs. After all, the science/art of aura is kind of unknown to us at this point.
> 
> I debated having them do more of the explicit "talk", but I decided that leaving it open-ended like this felt like it would insert better into whatever becomes canon. Besides, plenty of other lovely authors have written their own versions of "the talk" so I think I'll hold out for canon.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think, or drop a kudos, or both :)


End file.
